Investigation of Prevalence of Back Pain and Its Risk Factors (Case Study: Female Students of Babol University of Medical Sciences)

Abstract

Back pain is the most common musculoskeletal complication. Due to inactive lifestyle and long hours of working in hospital, medical students are prone to back pain. Patients with back pain have a disturbed quality of life because of being affected by physical problems and functional constraints. Therefore, the present research investigates the prevalence of back pain and its risk factors in female students of Babol University of Medical Sciences (Iran). This research is a cross sectional descriptive study, and data collection has been done by a pre-designed questionnaire and Oswestry questionnaire. 300 female students of medical subjects with the average age of 22.9 ± 2.4 years and the average body mass index (BMI) of 21.9 ± 3.2 were included in the study (2017-2018). Twelve students were excluded from the study because of the background of back trauma. Among the 250 female students affected by back pain (86.8%), 169 people (58.7%) reported the background of back pain in at least one of the family members; 45.1% of this population lived in dormitory. The highest prevalence of back pain (29.2%) was reported in students of medicine. However, no significant relationship was observed between prevalence of back pain, living in dormitory, and university subject. Nevertheless, back pain had a significant relationship with the weight changes over the past six months, using computer, family background, and not exercising (P=0.000). Regarding the results suggesting the 86.8% prevalence of back pain among female medica l students of Babol University of Medical Sciences and their inactive lifestyle, it is suggested to provide them with sport programs with an emphasis on strengthening central (back) muscles in order to prevent back pain.